<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><strong>Date              </strong>2009-06-07<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Level             </strong>Master thesis in Information Technology and Business Administration, 15 hp, EIK024<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Authors        </strong>Anna Karlsson, akn05009@student.mdh.se                      Lena-Maria Lindström, llm05002@student.mdh.se</p><p><strong>Tutor            </strong>Peter Ekman<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Title              </strong>IT Governance with an IT investment focus</p><p><strong>Keywords     </strong>IT Governance, IT investments, IT decisions<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Problem       </strong>To control and manage IT and IT functions in the organization has been a big challenge for many businesses for a long time. In order to make the management of IT more efficient IT Governance is needed. If the organization is going to be successful IT Governance is necessary and this type of governance enables a more effective use of IT that supports the business and its operations. The problem questions for this thesis are: <em>How is the company’s IT Governance built up? How are decisions regarding the company’s IT investments taken? How is the connection between the company’s IT investments and the company’s IT Governance?</em></p><p><strong>Purpose        </strong>The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze how a company’s IT Governance is built up and how the company uses IT Governance to reach the desired results from the IT investments.</p><p><strong>Method        </strong>The thesis is a qualitative study. The thesis group has made three interviews; one at Swecon Anläggningsmaskiner AB, one at Volvo Construction Equipment AB and one at Telge nät AB. The respondents are all IT managers. The interviews were semi structured as the authors of the thesis wanted it to be more of an interview / discussion.</p><p><strong>framework</strong></p><p><strong>Theoretical   </strong>The theoretical framework of the thesis begins with a presentation of decision making in the organizations followed by a background to IT investments. Finally a presentation of IT Governance which is divided into four parts follows: who takes the IT decisions, which decisions are made, how are these decisions made and monitored and the fourth part that focuses on the company management’s involvement in IT Governance. The part is finished with a summarizing analytic model made by the authors of the thesis.         </p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>   We have concluded that the three companies all have some sort of IT Governance, but how the IT Governances are built up varies. We also have concluded that the companies' ambition by using IT Governance is to reach the desired results from their IT investments.  By using IT Governance the companies are forced to pay attention to certain aspects eg., that the investments really are aligned with the companies businesses and that certain metrics are estimated for investments in the IT investment approval process.</p>

<p>Informationsteknologin (IT) fortsätter att utvecklas snabbt. Det ger möjlighet för företag och organisationer att kostnadseffektivisera sina processer och hitta alternativa lösningar som ökar konkurrenskraften. Den höga utvecklingstakten och de stora kostnader som är inbegripna skapar samtidigt en genuin beslutsosäkerhet vid investering i IT. Företagare ställs inför en rad dilemman: var, när och hur ska investeringar göras? I de situationer där utfallen av ett beslut är oklara eller motstridiga befinner sig beslutsfattaren i ett dilemma. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och analysera beslutsdilemman som beslutsfattare har vid dessa IT-investeringar.</p><p>Studien bygger på beslutsteori, där referensramen bestäms av såväl den rationella skolans mycket bestämda beslutskedja som av mer socialkonstruktivistiska beslutsmodeller. Beslutsperspektiven varierar med kontexten och intressenterna. Företaget är en koalition mellan olika aktörer, alla med sitt perspektiv på företagets beteende i den specifika branschen.</p><p>Empirin utgörs av två myndigheter (fallstudier), Skatteverket respektive Premiepensionsmyndigheten (PPM). Genom intervjuer, studier av arkivmaterial samt deltagande observation har jag samlat information om två beslutsprocesser: PPM:s val mellan att köpa ett färdigt IT-system och att utveckla ett eget samt Skatteverkets val mellan ett proprietärt IT-verktyg och ett baserat på öppen källkod.</p><p>Analysen av det empiriska materialet har resulterat i en typologi med tre typer av beslutsdilemman vid IT-investeringar. Den första typen av dilemman är de beslutspunkter som uppstår i samband med investeringar. Jag kallar dessa för (a) dilemmapunkter. Den andra typen av dilemman beror av att resultat och konsekvenser ofta är svårbestämda. Det leder till en hög beslutsosäkerhet och jag benämner därför det (b) konsekvensdilemman. Beslutsdilemmat kan också betyda att man ställs inför flera beslutsalternativ med både förväntat önskat och möjliga, oönskade resultat. Det ställer beslutsfattaren inför valet att balansera mellan alternativen. Jag kallar dessa för (c) balansaktsdilemman.</p> / <p>Summary: The rapid progress of Information Technology (IT) continues. IT can make processes more cost-effective and be a tool when identifying alternative solutions to increase competitiveness. However, the rapid pace of development and the high costs attached, creates a genuine uncertainty when it comes to IT-investments. Eventually, the organization will be confronted with dilemmas such when decisions or their outcomes are unclear or contradictory, you have a dilemma.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze balance acts (dilemmas) of IT-investments. The base of study is decision theory, from the traditional rational way of reasoning to more socially constructed models. The perspective varies with the contexts and actors. The company is a coalition of actors, all with a different perspective on a specific part of the business.</p><p>The empirical data consist of two public authorities (case-studies), Swedish Tax Authority and Premium Pension Authority (PPM). I have collected data by conducting interviews, taking part of archived material and being an observant participator. PPM’s dilemma is whether to buy or to develop a system and Swedish Tax Authority’s dilemma is whether to use open source or a proprietary development tool.</p><p>The analysis of the empiric material have resulted in a typology of dilemmas in conjunction with IT-investments. The typology consists of:</p><p>(a) dilemma points - events where the dilemmas originate.</p><p>(b) dilemma consequences – dilemmas that are hard to discern and thus associated with a great deal of risk.</p><p>(c) balancing acts dilemmas - the decision maker must balance between multiple choices in order to reach a satisfying outcome. Each choice has its pros and cons.</p>

Informationsteknologin (IT) fortsätter att utvecklas snabbt. Det ger möjlighet för företag och organisationer att kostnadseffektivisera sina processer och hitta alternativa lösningar som ökar konkurrenskraften. Den höga utvecklingstakten och de stora kostnader som är inbegripna skapar samtidigt en genuin beslutsosäkerhet vid investering i IT. Företagare ställs inför en rad dilemman: var, när och hur ska investeringar göras? I de situationer där utfallen av ett beslut är oklara eller motstridiga befinner sig beslutsfattaren i ett dilemma. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och analysera beslutsdilemman som beslutsfattare har vid dessa IT-investeringar. Studien bygger på beslutsteori, där referensramen bestäms av såväl den rationella skolans mycket bestämda beslutskedja som av mer socialkonstruktivistiska beslutsmodeller. Beslutsperspektiven varierar med kontexten och intressenterna. Företaget är en koalition mellan olika aktörer, alla med sitt perspektiv på företagets beteende i den specifika branschen. Empirin utgörs av två myndigheter (fallstudier), Skatteverket respektive Premiepensionsmyndigheten (PPM). Genom intervjuer, studier av arkivmaterial samt deltagande observation har jag samlat information om två beslutsprocesser: PPM:s val mellan att köpa ett färdigt IT-system och att utveckla ett eget samt Skatteverkets val mellan ett proprietärt IT-verktyg och ett baserat på öppen källkod. Analysen av det empiriska materialet har resulterat i en typologi med tre typer av beslutsdilemman vid IT-investeringar. Den första typen av dilemman är de beslutspunkter som uppstår i samband med investeringar. Jag kallar dessa för (a) dilemmapunkter. Den andra typen av dilemman beror av att resultat och konsekvenser ofta är svårbestämda. Det leder till en hög beslutsosäkerhet och jag benämner därför det (b) konsekvensdilemman. Beslutsdilemmat kan också betyda att man ställs inför flera beslutsalternativ med både förväntat önskat och möjliga, oönskade resultat. Det ställer beslutsfattaren inför valet att balansera mellan alternativen. Jag kallar dessa för (c) balansaktsdilemman. / Summary: The rapid progress of Information Technology (IT) continues. IT can make processes more cost-effective and be a tool when identifying alternative solutions to increase competitiveness. However, the rapid pace of development and the high costs attached, creates a genuine uncertainty when it comes to IT-investments. Eventually, the organization will be confronted with dilemmas such when decisions or their outcomes are unclear or contradictory, you have a dilemma. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze balance acts (dilemmas) of IT-investments. The base of study is decision theory, from the traditional rational way of reasoning to more socially constructed models. The perspective varies with the contexts and actors. The company is a coalition of actors, all with a different perspective on a specific part of the business. The empirical data consist of two public authorities (case-studies), Swedish Tax Authority and Premium Pension Authority (PPM). I have collected data by conducting interviews, taking part of archived material and being an observant participator. PPM’s dilemma is whether to buy or to develop a system and Swedish Tax Authority’s dilemma is whether to use open source or a proprietary development tool. The analysis of the empiric material have resulted in a typology of dilemmas in conjunction with IT-investments. The typology consists of: (a) dilemma points - events where the dilemmas originate. (b) dilemma consequences – dilemmas that are hard to discern and thus associated with a great deal of risk. (c) balancing acts dilemmas - the decision maker must balance between multiple choices in order to reach a satisfying outcome. Each choice has its pros and cons.

Abstract Date              2009-06-07 Level             Master thesis in Information Technology and Business Administration, 15 hp, EIK024 Authors        Anna Karlsson, akn05009@student.mdh.se                      Lena-Maria Lindström, llm05002@student.mdh.se Tutor            Peter Ekman Title              IT Governance with an IT investment focus Keywords     IT Governance, IT investments, IT decisions Problem       To control and manage IT and IT functions in the organization has been a big challenge for many businesses for a long time. In order to make the management of IT more efficient IT Governance is needed. If the organization is going to be successful IT Governance is necessary and this type of governance enables a more effective use of IT that supports the business and its operations. The problem questions for this thesis are: How is the company’s IT Governance built up? How are decisions regarding the company’s IT investments taken? How is the connection between the company’s IT investments and the company’s IT Governance? Purpose        The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze how a company’s IT Governance is built up and how the company uses IT Governance to reach the desired results from the IT investments. Method        The thesis is a qualitative study. The thesis group has made three interviews; one at Swecon Anläggningsmaskiner AB, one at Volvo Construction Equipment AB and one at Telge nät AB. The respondents are all IT managers. The interviews were semi structured as the authors of the thesis wanted it to be more of an interview / discussion. framework Theoretical   The theoretical framework of the thesis begins with a presentation of decision making in the organizations followed by a background to IT investments. Finally a presentation of IT Governance which is divided into four parts follows: who takes the IT decisions, which decisions are made, how are these decisions made and monitored and the fourth part that focuses on the company management’s involvement in IT Governance. The part is finished with a summarizing analytic model made by the authors of the thesis.          Conclusion   We have concluded that the three companies all have some sort of IT Governance, but how the IT Governances are built up varies. We also have concluded that the companies' ambition by using IT Governance is to reach the desired results from their IT investments.  By using IT Governance the companies are forced to pay attention to certain aspects eg., that the investments really are aligned with the companies businesses and that certain metrics are estimated for investments in the IT investment approval process.